the unofficial Cape Epic thread

[Robbie Stewart]

1 hour ago, MORNE said:

Tar in 45*C Paarl is liquid…and therefore lawa…and untamed.

The floor iiiiis laaaava 🔥

[SwissVan]

1 hour ago, DieselnDust said:

Stage 4 feedback . Fairview to fairview

the first 20 km was a boring meander through the Fairview vines. Large track of land, must be worth a fortune.

things got exciting when we hit diamanté estate XCO track. How I remained patient and amused is beyond me but none the less, there does need to be a skills criteria or I need to be seeded in faster start batches. 
over a simple obstacle, Grand master on a S-works , stops mid feature and unclips as my team mate is spooling up to ride over it. He stops to avoid the chap and tears his calf muscle. It seemed like just a strain at first but by WP 2 the pain was becoming unbearable for him. The medics gave him some pain killer which slowed him to pedal, albeit slowly to WP3. Back to diamanté estate …..

the XCO track might have in pristine condition but after 800ridees it was quite beaten up. Everything still rideable but not for the back markers. Bear in mind these people have been through the wringer the first 3 stages and were /are basically in survival mode. There is no more strategy, just a dash of smack talk but generally just silence and grunting…like a 80s German porn movie….dont be coy, you know what I’m talking about…

there are no free climbing meters in Paarl. Everything is compact and that means steep to pack in the kilometres. Prepare yourselves well when you come ride out here.

we exited diamanté estate onto tracks build under the monument and then through  a girls school. What a punk track that was. I nearly saw my gat there.

the  we went through LaBorie vineyards and their XCO track . Notice a bit of a trend here. If you have ridden the spice route, diamant, diaries and laborie XCO courses you’ll have some idea of how technical today was.

by WP2 Hans calf was really troubling him. They routed us past the Taal Monument and then a right at the top of the mountain  and lead us along the gravel road up there to Spice Route. Some vicious climbs up there. 
I started keeping an eye on the clock and realised that at the pace we were moving we wouldn’t make cut off at WP3 . His face was a grimace of pain and bravery but I could see he was hurting and whatever was going on wasn’t just a little niggle. At WP3 I pulled him over to the medical tent and said “ we have till 13:50 to make a decision on whether you carry on or I pull you out. The doc examined him and said it’s likely a torn muscle but an Ultrasound back at race village would confirm. He handed me the transponder and said “I’m getting in the ambulance “

so we had a stay of execution yesterday with the dehydration episode but here was a real issue. Ultrasound confirmed a tear in the muscle. I continue as an Individual Finisher tomorrow 😢

 

Thanks for your daily updates, vasbyt this time next week it will all be over and you’ll be planning the next one 🤙👍

[The Bull Shark]

1 hour ago, DieselnDust said:

...

there are no free climbing meters in Paarl. Everything is compact and that means steep to pack in the kilometres. Prepare yourselves well when you come ride out here.

...

 

Having ridden at Rheebokskloof I know how flippen hard it is. And I ride Helderberg regularly and have done one Piket Bo-Berg. It is a step above Bo-Berg.

Edited March 20, 2025 by dev null

[quade]

5 hours ago, Wannabe said:

Also heard reports from a Dr working at one of the Hospitals where the riders were transported to, NO DEATHS, but three riders in ICU with failing organs. He is on one of my cycling groups.

 

From a rider who has a partner is in hosptial:
Confirmed: (Paarl Mediclinic) - 3x patients on ventilators in ICU, 1 with heart damage.

From other sources that I cannot 100% validate yet.
UNCONFIRMED:
--------------------
rumours of 3 dead and 100+ required hospital treatment.

Temperatures were  50C+
--------------------

[DieselnDust]

28 minutes ago, SwissVan said:

Thanks for your daily updates, vasbyt this time next week it will all be over and you’ll be planning the next one 🤙👍

Thanks for the encouragement but on the next one,…….Nooit, I think this is my last time. Nothing left to prove and unfortunately it’s just not the same gees anymore. That has been in decline but I think it is at rock bottom and might be digging 

[Shebeen]

21 minutes ago, quade said:

From a rider who has a partner is in hosptial:
Confirmed: (Paarl Mediclinic) - 3x patients on ventilators in ICU, 1 with heart damage.

From other sources that I cannot 100% validate yet.
UNCONFIRMED:
--------------------
rumours of 3 dead and 100+ required hospital treatment.

Temperatures were  50C+
--------------------

This is what makes the official Epic press release problematic. 

We know that water points ran dry, so they got that wrong. 

They put spin on the rumour of a rider death, which leads to speculation. 

The actual cape epic rider forum is hosted on this site if I'm not mistaken.  How can they not be monitoring what is being said. 

Sounds like the golden goose is being cooked, would be very happy to be wrong. 

 

[quade]

10 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

This is what makes the official Epic press release problematic. 

We know that water points ran dry, so they got that wrong. 

They put spin on the rumour of a rider death, which leads to speculation. 

The actual cape epic rider forum is hosted on this site if I'm not mistaken.  How can they not be monitoring what is being said. 

Sounds like the golden goose is being cooked, would be very happy to be wrong. 

 

I have heard a crazy story 

It's from a reliable source but time will tell if it's true ....I hope it's not 

Clearly they are in damage limitation mode, and they are not being fully transparent so the rumours are rampant. 

An Austrian website has removed the news article, so they are clearly monitoring and engaging.

lets hope its not because the truth is a problem.

I wish the guys in ICU a speedy recovery 

[V18]

4 hours ago, gemmerbal said:

If I read that article correctly, I venture to say that we won’t have any sporting events in SA in summer?

Haha. Initially also thought so. But a wet bulb temp of 25 is way higher than it sounds. Read a bit around the wet bulb temp measurement. Looks like the sport physiology guys did their homework on this one. 

[ChrisF]

8 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

Stage 4 feedback . Fairview to fairview

the first 20 km was a boring meander through the Fairview vines. Large track of land, must be worth a fortune.

things got exciting when we hit diamanté estate XCO track. How I remained patient and amused is beyond me but none the less, there does need to be a skills criteria or I need to be seeded in faster start batches. 
over a simple obstacle, Grand master on a S-works , stops mid feature and unclips as my team mate is spooling up to ride over it. He stops to avoid the chap and tears his calf muscle. It seemed like just a strain at first but by WP 2 the pain was becoming unbearable for him. The medics gave him some pain killer which slowed him to pedal, albeit slowly to WP3. Back to diamanté estate …..

the XCO track might have in pristine condition but after 800ridees it was quite beaten up. Everything still rideable but not for the back markers. Bear in mind these people have been through the wringer the first 3 stages and were /are basically in survival mode. There is no more strategy, just a dash of smack talk but generally just silence and grunting…like a 80s German porn movie….dont be coy, you know what I’m talking about…

there are no free climbing meters in Paarl. Everything is compact and that means steep to pack in the kilometres. Prepare yourselves well when you come ride out here.

we exited diamanté estate onto tracks build under the monument and then through  a girls school. What a punk track that was. I nearly saw my gat there.

the  we went through LaBorie vineyards and their XCO track . Notice a bit of a trend here. If you have ridden the spice route, diamant, diaries and laborie XCO courses you’ll have some idea of how technical today was.

by WP2 Hans calf was really troubling him. They routed us past the Taal Monument and then a right at the top of the mountain  and lead us along the gravel road up there to Spice Route. Some vicious climbs up there. 
I started keeping an eye on the clock and realised that at the pace we were moving we wouldn’t make cut off at WP3 . His face was a grimace of pain and bravery but I could see he was hurting and whatever was going on wasn’t just a little niggle. At WP3 I pulled him over to the medical tent and said “ we have till 13:50 to make a decision on whether you carry on or I pull you out. The doc examined him and said it’s likely a torn muscle but an Ultrasound back at race village would confirm. He handed me the transponder and said “I’m getting in the ambulance “

so we had a stay of execution yesterday with the dehydration episode but here was a real issue. Ultrasound confirmed a tear in the muscle. I continue as an Individual Finisher tomorrow 😢

 

 

After all you went through .... so sorry for your team mate, and for you as a team.

 

Make him proud and kick some butt on the last stages.

 

Thank you for posting these race reports.

[ChrisF]

5 hours ago, V18 said:

Haha. Initially also thought so. But a wet bulb temp of 25 is way higher than it sounds. Read a bit around the wet bulb temp measurement. Looks like the sport physiology guys did their homework on this one. 

 

The same technology, monitoring dry and wet bulb temperatures, are used on construction sites in extreme weather conditions ... at least is suppossed to be, according to OSH Act.

 

For the most part our, SA, 40 degrees with "dry" air, i.e. very low dry bulb (low humidity).

 

Mid 40's and high humidity is not something we are used to.

 

 

PS - read up on sling hygrometer if "you" want to know more about wet and dry bulb temperatures

[Headshot]

12 hours ago, Mayo916 said:

It sounds like Keegan's back is giving him trouble
 

Sounds like he didn't get a special Epic Bike Fit.. 

[Mamil]

I really hope that if there are people in hospital fighting for their lives that they pull through. 

I'm surprised by the vitriolic tone of some of the discussions about the unceertainty and rumours of deaths. 

If however, there is spin put on any tragedy that might have played out in Paarl it will be the worst display of corporate @sscovering I've ever seen. There is something very paradoxical to me about a corporate entity organising a mountin bike ride - then I remind myself that the entry fee is what it is. 

The munga race documents basically say, I'm paraphrasing "What you've signed up for is a very dangerous thing. It's an extreme event, in extreme conditions, often hundreds of kilometres away from the nearest hospital and while there is ambulance support, you are likely to spend a lot of time alone in a dangerous environment. You may die. We'll try and make sure that doesn't happen but no guarantees." 

It's honest.

Evasion of responsibility is built into the corporate model - it's a legal individual comprised of many individuals all of whom abdicate their personal responsibility and invest it in the collective. Is part of what you pay for with your 120k the right to make someone else responsible for your safety, and to what extent is that legally enforcable? And morally? 

 

 

[JohanDiv]

I'm just curious, anyone know what the deal with Toyota looks like? I counted 8x Cape Epic branded brand new Land Cruiser Prado support vehicles at the start line this morning. Must be rentals or sponsored just for the duration of the event, right? Can't imagine the organizers spending R13mill just on support vehicles. 

[mikkelz]

Just now, JohanDiv said:

I'm just curious, anyone know what the deal with Toyota looks like? I counted 8x Cape Epic branded brand new Land Cruiser Prado support vehicles at the start line this morning. Must be rentals or sponsored just for the duration of the event, right? Can't imagine the organizers spending R13mill just on support vehicles. 

Now you know why there was a water shortage. 😜

[RobynE 🚵‍♀️]

27 minutes ago, Mamil said:

Is part of what you pay for with your 120k the right to make someone else responsible for your safety, and to what extent is that legally enforcable? And morally? 

 

 

I think that’s the big thing here. Like it’s ridiculously expensive to enter this event. I don’t think that the 120k is babysitting fees, but I do think that 120k should include proactive event management that minimises risk, and I don’t think that happened.

If you are undertrained and underprepared it’s one thing. 

If the conditions are unrideable for the masses and you know you’ve got a water issue, stop the stage. And before 14:36.

As a well-meaning ammie, it’s a little upsetting when you’re doing your best and you get to WPs that are being cleared up or the marshalls stop coming by. It feels like you could be forgotten out there. I don’t pay an entry fee to be abandoned on a trail. I’m not expecting babysitting but I am expecting there to be what the organisers say there will be whether I’m podium or last in my category. 

Conversely people can turn around for a DNF and not notify anyone, meaning that the organisers really don’t know you’re not out there anymore, but I don’t think a person in the Epic simply turns around and goes home, and the promised support should remain whether you’re first or last. 

[Lynskey]

15 minutes ago, JohanDiv said:

I'm just curious, anyone know what the deal with Toyota looks like? I counted 8x Cape Epic branded brand new Land Cruiser Prado support vehicles at the start line this morning. Must be rentals or sponsored just for the duration of the event, right? Can't imagine the organizers spending R13mill just on support vehicles. 

I would presume Toyota loans them the vehicles. Land Rover used to be involved a while back. I struggle to see how they would see a valued return on this. As far as I can remember absa is the one who has stuck with them the longest. Assos was also involved for a bit.